The promise and dangers of editing the genome of a human embryo are being discussed by scientists around the world. They are contemplating whether it should be allowed or not— and if so, under what circumstances?
The meetings have been prompted by the powerful technology known as CRISPR/Cas9. This could be used to manipulate the DNA of embryos in a dish to know about the earliest stages of human development. The genome editing could also be used to 'fix' the mutations responsible for heritable human diseases. This could prevent such diseases from being passed on if done in embryos. This lead to widespread concern and discussion among scientists, ethicists and pat...
